4 posts tagged “creative commons”
Did you know there is a whole wealth of photography, music and video out there that you can legally use in presentations, websites, etc?
A non-profit organization called the Creative Commons devised a set of standard licenses that any content creator (e.g. photographer, artist, musician) can assign to their works. These licenses provide clear usage rights for each work released. These usage rights can run the gamut from the traditional copyright of "all rights reserved" to the public domain of "no rights reserved".
The Creative Commons has come to the forefront recently as the new whitehouse.gov website and several big-name musical artists like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have adopted CC licences for their content. For the content creator, CC licensing offers a finer granularity and clarity over the usage permissions they grant. Granting permission for people to freely share your creative work can greatly increase visibility (as a card carrying member, I can attest to this) as well as promote the sharing of ideas and art. For content consumers and creators or derivative works there are clear guidelines over how a licensed work maybe used and what credit must be given. For bloggers, podcasters and website managers this opens up a whole world of legally usable content. The photo sharing website, Flickr, now has an estimated over 100 million Creative Commons licensed photos that their users have uploaded and assigned various flavors of CC license. That's pretty massive, searchable, royalty-free library!
The following video explains some of the details of how Creative Commons licensing works.
If this interests you, I urge you to visit the Creative Commons website to fully understand the details of the various licenses.
War-N Harrison, from the band Hungry Lucy, speaks about his views and support of Creative Commons licensing.
By popular demand, we are making "The Teatime Sessions" available via digital music channels. The release is already online at, Amazon MP3 Store, Napster, Rhapsody and Lala. iTunes (Worldwide) and eMusic will follow in the coming weeks (if they aren't already there).
The Teatime Sessions is a collection of 9 live recordings made during the Tea with Hungry Lucy podcast over the past year and a half. These are nicely mixed & mastered versions of the original recordings and sound much better than the low quality podcast MP3.
TRACKLIST:
- we won’t go (#66, mar 25, 2007)
- good girl (#98, jan 13, 2008)
- love vigilantes* (#115, may 25, 2008)
- open window (#57, jan 14, 2007)
- rebirth (#93, nov 11, 2007)
- shine (#113, apr 27, 2008)
- softly (#118, jul 6, 2008)
- stay (#116, jun 18, 2008)
- to kill a king (#110, apr 7, 2008)
all songs by c belle/w harrison except * originally by new order
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
Lately I've been thinking and talking to others about the value of music. It's a topic that comes up a lot in the discussion of free music downloads. Many in the business of selling music argue that the act of allowing music to be freely downloaded (e.g. Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails) reduces the value of music. By establishing a set price for music, music sellers are saying, "This is how much the music is worth." By their argument, allowing people to download music for free is saying, "This is worth nothing".
I've always thought "value" is like "beauty" ... surely it is determined by the beholder or consumer. If I find a piece of music that enhances my mood in a manner that I find desirable, it has great value to me. If that same piece of music is offensive to you, and you would rather stick sharp objects in your ear than hear it again, it has no value to you. Value is subjective, as opposed to objective.
It's much easier (in my opinion) to find music that appeals to you these days. The vast "interweb" is awash with little corners of music that tickle your fancy. No longer do you have to rely on a marketing push from a handful of sources to learn about what's out there. You can go and find the music that is of value to you. Me thinks that it's the handful of sources that are freaking out about all this because what was once a large pot of gold being shared by a few is now being shared by many smaller sources. People are spending their money in places where the get the greatest value to them.
The fact is, the world is changing when it comes to making and selling music. Many parts of the old music distribution chain will not be necessary in the future. Some are already feeling he effects in a big, big way. I truly feel for the people (yes, they are people folks) running these parts of the chain. Many (but not all) are hugely passionate about music and have found a way to make a living doing what they love. I see nothing wrong with that at all. But, as the landscape changes they can dig in their heals and cry "foul" ... or rekindle that passion, get excited about the possibilities and adapt for the future.
As an artist, that is what I have tried to do ... adapt. As a listener, I'm excited about all that musical goodness just waiting for me to find it!
A quote that really struck me ... Michael Arrington of TechCrunch stated,
"Recorded music is nothing but marketing material to drive awareness of an artist."
I guess music has no value to Michael.
For the record: I am happy for people to freely download and share Hungry Lucy's music, videos and podcasts. Doing so allows for word-of-mouth discovery as well as letting people know we respect them. In return, I think people will respect us and ultimately support our music by buying it (if it has value to them). I have seen this to be true time and time again. That said, I trust that people respect the decision of other artists who do not grant such permission. I think they will come around eventually ... until that time ... please don't steal.
Peace.
- War-N
